Traditionally, Electric Power Utility Companies have supplied electric energy by generating it at a centralized power generation facility and then transmitting it to the location where it is being used. The transmission of the generated electricity is accomplished through a series of power transmission and distribution wires, substations and other supporting equipment that vary in size and capacity all of which are collectively referred to as a Utility Power Grid or just a Grid. As demand for electric energy has increased the Utility Power Grid is often operating at full transmission capacity and not capable of transmitting larger amounts of electricity at given moments in time. Along with the increase in demand for electric energy there is a growing awareness of the environmental impacts from pollutants that are created when generating the electricity at a Centralized Power Generation Facility using coal, natural gas or nuclear as the primary fuel.
There are many efforts underway to develop alternative renewable sources of electric energy generation in the United States and around the world to meet this growing demand for electric energy. A renewable generation project(s), of commercial scale are confronted with the same complexities as developing traditional centralized generation facilities regardless of whether coal, natural gas or nuclear fuel is being used. Beyond overcoming the environmental limitations, having sufficient transmission capacity in the Grid limits the cost effective development of alternative renewable sources of electric generation.
This situation is requiring Electric Power Utility Companies to look at new ideas they have never before considered. One of these is the concept of a Distributed Generation model and more specifically, a Micro Distributed Renewable Generation (MDRG). Simply put, this means locating renewable and other forms of electric energy generation at the site where the electric energy is going to be used instead of transmitting the electric energy long distances from a Centralized Power Generation Facility. To the extent the demand for electricity energy can be met with electricity generated at the point of use it serves to reduce the demand for transmission capacity on the Grid. While the effects realized on the Grid from a single Home or Small Business generating and controlling its use of electricity on site is minimal, if you were to aggregate thousands or even millions of participating Homes and Small Businesses the impact becomes very significant. So significant in fact, Electric Power Utility Companies are worried what impact these independently owned and operated, Grid connected, MDRG sites will have on the overall Grid stability, especially when the Electric Power Utilities have little or no control over the operation of these thousands or millions of MDRG sites. The present invention offers Electric Power Utility Companies, in cooperation with MDRG owners, a method to control large numbers of these sites when the GTC is utilized for connection to the Home or Small Business.
All MDRG incorporate a device called an Inverter. An inverter is used to condition the generated electricity from the renewable source of generation into a form of electricity useable by the electric appliances in the Home or Small Business making the frequency and voltage compatible with electricity provided from the Grid, which in most Homes and Small Businesses is single phase, denoted as AC, with a maximum voltage of 240 volts and a frequency, depending on the country where the Home or Small Business is located, as either 50 or 60 cycles per second, where cycles per second are denoted as Hz. The industry standard for articulating this type of electric supply in the United States is a Single Phase AC 120/240 Volt 60 Hz Service. In other countries, such as the UK it would be articulated as a Single Phase AC 230 Volt 50 Hz Service. The Grid-Tied Controller is adaptable to either the 50 Hz or 60 Hz Services and industry standards articulate this as a Single Phase AC 120/240 Volt & 50 Hz/60 Hz Service Compatible.
MDRG can be used either with or without connecting to the Grid. The primary benefit of a Grid Connected operation is that any generated energy that is not consumed by The Home or Small Business will be routed back to the Grid. This giving back electric energy to the Grid is commonly referred to as Net Metering. Net metering can effectively be thought of as reversing the flow of electricity so instead of coming from the Grid to the Home or Small Business the electricity goes from the Home or Small Business back out to the Grid. An Electric Meter (20) would in essence run backwards. The Present Invention automatically manages this Net Metering process and intelligently manages the electric energy based upon an owners elected preferences. It is expected that Electric Power Utility Companies will at some point become significant Owner-Operators or large numbers of the GTC. Instead of electricity being delivered from a Centralized Power Generation Facility through the Grid, Electric Power Utility Companies will provide the Home or Small Business its electricity by generating it locally at or near the Home or Small Business using a GTC in cooperation with the Home or Small Business owner.
The evolution of the Internet and networked communication of information shared across the Internet referred to as IP Networked Communication within the industry, has made it possible to intelligently manage not only the generation of electricity but also the use of it in near real time from remote locations. By combining MDRG, and IP Networking it is possible to now monitor and automatically manage the Home or Small Business's energy generation and consumption in accordance with an Owner's Preferences, Industry Accepted Practices or a Rules Based Triggers approach enacted in response to the receipt of real time market pricing signals transmitted by the Electric Power Utility Companies through IP Communication. All of this serves to lower an owners energy costs.
The simplest form of energy conservation is just an overall reduction in the number of appliances running and consuming energy. Turning an Electric Appliance off during periods of the day when electricity is in high demand and more expensive, running them for shorter periods of time and cycling them less frequently will all contribute to less electricity being used and cost savings for the owner of the Home or Small Business.
Another method of energy conservation is to control when appliances start up. Large motors momentarily require more electricity to initially start running then they do for continues normal operation. Getting a train car rolling from a dead stop requires more effort or energy than keeping it rolling. The same is true when starting larger appliances like air conditioner, pool pump, washing machine etc, all require a higher level of energy to start than required for normal operation. If multiple appliances attempt to start running at the same time there is an instant where there is an elevated requirement in the demand for electric energy, this is often referred to as a Peak Load or Peak Demand or s Surge Current by the Electric Power Utility Companies.
While this Peak Load or Surge Current only lasts for a moment, it can result in elevating the overall cost of electricity provided by the local serving Electric Power Utility Company because they must be ready and able to meet these Peak Demands and have standby generation sources up and running to do so. The elevated costs of running these standby generation sources is passed on to customers who are experiencing Peak Demands during certain periods of the day when overall demand for electricity is high and the Electric Power Utility Companies are having to run standby generation sources in order to meet both overall demand but also Peak Demands for electricity. There have been and are times when Peak Loads become so large, that even with standby generation Electric Power Utility Companies cannot supply the additional electricity and the result is what is called a “Brown Out” or where supply is not sufficient to meet the Peak Demand. By controlling the starting and stopping of electric appliances and the overall number of electric appliances that need to operate during periods of high demand, Peak Loads can be reduced or even eliminated in some cases. The present invention offers the functionality of managing overall demand for electricity during Peak Demand periods the result of which is referred to as Intelligent Micro Distributed Load Management or abbreviated in the industry as IMDLM.
As more and more manufacturers introduce residential and small business solar and wind MDRG the cost of MDRG is becoming more affordable. What has not been addressed and is not becoming more affordable are the labor costs associated with installing MDRG and IMDLM. The average cost to install typical MDRG large enough to power a few circuits of a 1000 square foot home or small business is $ 5,000 or more and this does not include the cost of the MDRG system itself. Most of this cost is the, time consuming wiring, involved with connection to the Main Service Panel of the Home or Small Business.
While new construction offers simplified access for wiring, the labor is still significant and there historically has been very little standardization to the installation and wiring process for MDRG on Homes and Small Businesses. Existing Homes and Small Businesses interject a multitude of additional complexities that all add labor costs to the installation process. This includes coordination with owners for access, drilling holes in walls, pulling wires through hard to reach places, clean up and finishing work to restore the interior decor of the home or small business.
Most MDRG and IMDLM systems for residential or small business applications are not designed to support more than a small number of isolated circuits in the Home or Small business. Most do not support any type of IP Networked Communication for remote monitoring and automated diagnostic reporting of Operating Parameters across the Internet for the Smart Load Management. There is no integrated functionality for controlling electric load and generation resources. The GTC offers all of this functionality.
For there to be a viable, low cost, widely adopted MRDG and IMDLM offering there will need to be simple, intuitive, and a Low Cost Installation Process (LCIP) The offering will need to demonstrate value to the Home and Small Business owner, Electric Power Utility Companies and demonstrate a high level of environmental stewardship and operational safety. the offering must be available to buyers on a turnkey basis, requiring no involvement of the buyer in the installation process or ongoing maintenance and servicing. The offering must be self diagnostic and reporting of both operational and environmental site parameters and support automated and unattended operation. The present invention, the GTC incorporates both MDRG, IMDLM and LCIP for Home and Small Business owners delivering a safe, trouble free, turnkey and standardized approach to long term electric energy cost savings.